Re: Fw: [Harp-L] Harp as toy (young vs older generation) (Protracted)



I am not certain that any one instrument could be termed the "ultimate" 
instrument of genius. They all have their advantages and disadvantages. Bach 
thought that the pipe organ was the ultimate instrument because it did 
everything he wanted it to do, it could be made to imitate the sounds of any 
other instrument, and a good player could play several things at once. 
However, they have to be built into a building, so they are not real 
portable. I would expect that the ultimate instrument would travel with the 
musician -- like a harmonica. However, a harmonica has many disadvantages a 
pipe organ does not have.

 *...Trumpet is a single note instrument, all the notes are there, you just 
have to purse your lips, blow and move three fingers...*

 Brass instruments are chromatic only because they have valves/slides which 
add length to the instrument, changing the key of the instrument 
temporarily. A brass instrument really only plays a few notes. Every time a 
valve is pressed (or a slide is moved out), a pathway to a longer length of 
tubing is made available to the instrument -- changing the key and, 
ultimately the available notes, of the instrument. Each valve pressed 
simultaneously adds their combined lengths of tubing to the instrument and 
changes its key further -- sort of a mechanical application of musical math. 
A really good brass player might be able to get some resemblance of real 
scales out of the instrument without the use of valves or slides, but, in 
reality, his instrument is extremely limited -- forcing him to have to be 
better to make it work the way he wants it to work. The genius in the 
control of the instrument is the result of the player wanting more than what 
is directly in front of him and pushing himself to find what he seeks -- to 
conquer the challenge of his limitations. It is more than a matter of 
pressing valves. The valves simply make the instrument easier to learn to 
control -- they also add complication in transposition. (You don't usually 
have a case of brass instruments in 12 keys ready to go at a moment's 
notice, so you have to be very practiced in your scales.)

 *...Guitar is a piece a cake, you have all the notes and you can change 
octaves by simply moving up or down a fret...*

 Having a chromatic scale can be just as limiting as having to work without 
one. For beginner guitar players, the additional frets that they don't use, 
combined by the third between the G and B strings, poses a challenge. A 
mandolin, tuned completely in fifths, may be a better instrument for 
comparison. However, you would be up and playing a mountain dulcimer with 
some skill faster than either the guitar or mandolin because it is tuned 
diatonically. (The scale is laid out for you.)

 *...The piano would surely come at best second because it cannot bend or 
growl notes... *

 The piano was invented to be more expressive than its predecessors. Its 
name "piano" is a shortened form of "piano forte" -- indicating in the name 
that it was intended to do more than just play notes. A true piano genius 
can create emotion from the instrument, almost at a moment's notice, and 
even get a simulated angry growl out of the lower keys (and a pedal). It 
plays slurred (bent) notes through the use of a pedal that blends the 
"edges" of the notes together. It does not have different voices, however, 
like the pipe organ, and its hammered strings can never have the light, 
airy, surrealistic feel of the plucked strings of the harpsichord.

 *...The violin cannot play chords, hey we win!...*

 Actually, violins play chords frequently. Fiddlers do it all the time when 
they play tunes with drones or harmonies. (Violinists do it, too, but it is 
not as often required of them.) The chords are not called chords, though. 
They are known on the violin family instruments as "double stops" or "triple 
stops". In reality, they are 2 and 3 note chords, where the notes of the 
chords are played simultaneously like a piano might play them. (A guitar 
strum really plays the individual notes of the chord one at a time very 
quickly so as to simulate a simultaneous strike -- in an almost arpeggio 
fashion.) So the harmonica cannot win this one -- at least not with the 
chords. Harmonica chords are set by design. Only very advanced players can 
exceed that design in any fashion. Violin chords ("stops") can be varied by 
partial-tones through all of the keys making the range of interval 
adjustments nearly infinte within the vocal range of the instrument. That is 
why they are so hard to learn to play in tune and in key in the beginning 
and why players must study so hard to learn to control the instrument.

 *...Now find me a single harp player who can play a De Ford Bailey tune 
note for note with exact phrasing...*

It is my understanding that Joe Filisko is very good at demonstrating the 
styles of the older players. Perhaps you should talk to him at SPAH or a 
workshop sometime.

 It usually isn't the goal of a really good musician to copy another 
musician exactly – note for note with exact phrasing. That defeats the 
purpose of self-expression, which is usually a reason a musician plays music 
in the first place. Those geniuses of the past played the way they played 
because they were who they were. Their growth and influences were as unique 
to them as their interpretation of everything they ever experienced. Our 
imitations of them will always be imitations, regardless of how good they 
are. We can learn from their playing through learning their notes and 
phrasing, and try to understand their ideas from the way in which their 
music was presented, but we are not them – and we should not try to be. We 
should learn from them.

 *...Every instruments has its genius, but I believe the harmonica has more 
genius than any other. We should be proud, we (our forefathers) deserve 
respect. One day, it will come...*

 The harmonica is a pretty neat instrument that has distinct advantages and 
disadvantages. It is a simple instrument whose advantages encourage the 
beginner while its disadvantages challenge the advanced player to grow 
beyond the instrument and do more with it. We are its genius. The instrument 
will gain respect as we gain respect through our performance with the 
instrument.

 Cara


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